Police in Northwest China's Gansu Province arrested seven people for their alleged role in inciting a local Tibetan villager to self-immolate, according to Xinhua News Agency Tuesday. These seven key members of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) of the Dalai group are accused of plotting the self-immolation of Sangye Gyatso, a 26-year-old villager in the city of Hezuo, Gansu's Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, on Oct 6, 2012.

China has strengthened the crackdown on self-immolation instigators. The authorities stated that those inciting self-immolation would be charged with intentional murder and the police revealed details of how the Tibetan separatists in exile abetting self-immolation actions in China immediately after they cracked a self-immolation case. These efforts help both Chinese society and the international community better understand the nature of Tibetan self-immolation. However, fighting against instigating self-immolation is not an easy task, since some are still trying to glorify the extreme self-harm.

The city of Dharamsala offered prayers to remember the reported first self-immolator of this year. The victim, who was between the age of 19 and 22 according to different sources, set himself ablaze on January 13. An artist is working on a series of portraits of Tibetan self-immolators, praising them for "dying for human dignity."

The Chinese government needs to be decisive on cracking down on Tibetan self-immolation.

The TYC is the biggest and most extreme and vigorous organization of Tibetan exiles. It was accused of plotting the 3.14 Lhasa riots in 2008. Tsewang Rigzin, the president of TYC, once encouraged violent suicide attacks to realize the organization's political goal. There is a dangerous tendency of the organization moving toward terrorism.

According to Chinese police, those intentional instigators promised the self-immolators they would send their photos overseas and ask the Dalai Lama to pray for them. They highlighted the self-immolation cases with words and photos through overseas pro-"Tibetan Independence" media. Those young Tibetans sacrificed their lives for the political pursuits of TYC.

China legally protects people's freedom of religion, however, this doesn't include protection for those disturbing social security and damaging people's lives under the name of religion. Those breaching the doctrines of Buddhism and claiming others' lives for political ambitions must be severely punished based on law. Besides legal means, religious and social forces should be encouraged to participate in fighting against self-immolation instigation.